Planning a 6 day loop mid August trip out of Liz. I have read all the old trip reports from this site and am looking for more current info.
The loop will include: Lizz, Caribou, Horseshoe, Gaskin, Winchell, Omega, Hensen, Pillsberry, Meeds, etc. traveling back through Caribou to Lizz.
Fishing? Wildlife sighting opportunities, best sites? Any and all info would be appreciated. We have 6 days so plenty of time to explore.

My Dad and I did this loop on a 12-day adventure in May. Love it! Lots of wildlife, large and small. We had a moose in camp and a cow/calf across the way on horseshoe, lots of wolf sign near Ogema and Henson, a pine martin bounced through camp on Ogema, loons, otters on Caribou, beavers, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and plenty of birds ranging in sizes. Lots of moose sign nearly everywhere.

Fishing wasn't the greatest so I'm not sure my advice would be helpful - maybe ask an outfitter what they are hearing in August. Evidently winchill has lakers but we fought wind and thunder/lightning the time we had on that lake. Walleye in horseshoe and gaskin. Plenty of pike and smallies.

We were there right after ice out so the portages had lots of cold, running water.

I found the online campsite reviews to be accurate and helpful. We only had one tent to worry about so just about every site would work for us.

Enjoy your trip!

How big is your group/how are ya'll sleeping?

I was in this area a couple weeks ago with a 3-tent 1-hammock group. We stayed at 674 but I didn't see a site on Horseshoe that wouldn't have accommodated us. It was very quiet/not many groups when we entered but the date (July 3rd) probably helped with that. Plenty of groups came through later in the week and most were pushing to Gaskin on day 1.

Moose cow and calf were hanging out on the east end of Horseshoe. The cow was injured. We saw plenty of scat at campsites/portages but only the one pair of Moose showed themselves to us. We also had several box turtles laying eggs in camp every night but I'm sure they'll be done with that by August.

Fishing was pretty bad for us but I blame the thick mayfly hatches. Our best action was at inflows. You should have much better luck in august, I hope you have a great trip!

ChippewaCanoe: "Planning a 6 day loop mid August trip out of Liz. I have read all the old trip reports from this site and am looking for more current info.
The loop will include: Lizz, Caribou, Horseshoe, Gaskin, Winchell, Omega, Hensen, Pillsberry, Meeds, etc. traveling back through Caribou to Lizz.
Fishing? Wildlife sighting opportunities, best sites? Any and all info would be appreciated. We have 6 days so plenty of time to explore. "

I really like the island site on Gaskin closest to the east portages. No one else seems to like it, I think because the tent pads are far from the fire pit. But it’s got a nice swimming spot, two great hammock spots, and it’s high and breezy.

There are also really great spots on Winchell. Both Winchell and Omega are fun to paddle around in, Winchell because the hills are pretty, Omega because you feel on top of the world, and it’s got so many nooks and crannies.

Take a look at the "maps" section of this website. It has good information on campsites.

Gaskin - We have stayed on the first eastern campsite. It is very large. Take a look at the campsite on a peninsula looking west at a group of islands. It is a 4-5 star with more shade and nice tent pads.

Winchell - Lots of nice sites here. The ones on the west end near the portages get the most usage. There are some nice ones further east that get less wear and are just as beautiful.
Find the waterfall on the south shore and climb to the top for some nice views of the lake.
Climb the paths to the top of the cliffs. Stunning views from up there.

Ogema Lake is less visited and also has some nice campsites.

Horseshoe is moose central. Keep an eye out and be quiet as you paddle here. It is worth your time to take the bay heading to Vista Lake. Nice moose territory through here.

Hope you have a great trip.

Lots of good info already posted. Consider going to Allen and through Jump Lake to Gaskin. It's a little harder than the west portage out of Horseshoe but Jump Lake is really cool.

We were through some of that area through EP 47 7/17 - 7/20. We stayed on Mondale site on Gaskin. Saw bull moose (antlers in velvet) swimming to north shore of Gaskin west of that site. Too far for pics, but luckily we had binoculars to view. Beaver was spotted several days swimming in the bay on the south side of site. Fishing was non-existent from the site (probably because of beaver) and we had leech on slip bobber out most of the time we were in camp. Day tripped to Horseshoe and Vista and were met with same slow fishing. Speaking with others on those lakes they reported the same. Spent 7/19 fishing all over Gaskin as wind was a concern for our Winchell plans and still no luck. We did see small patches of mayflies on Poplar and Gaskin on our paddle in, so perhaps this contributed to slow fishing? It also rained Sunday night (7/17) with stronger storms to include hail on Monday night (7/18), so maybe this impacted fishing? Also this was our first trip in that area so we have to chalk up some of slow fishing to our inexperience. We decided to leave a day early and day trip out of more familiar territory. On our paddle out (7/20) we caught some smallmouth on Horseshoe. Have no doubt we would have caught others but our group was committed to the move at that point. Hopefully that was a sign the fishing was picking up! If you need outfitting needs you cannot go wrong with Rockwood! Great guys and great conversations!! Overall, very nice area and would not hesitate to return! Guaranteed to return if the Northwoodsman and fellow BWCA member cooks another send off breakfast as he did for our group on 7/17. Great guy who has tons of helpful information for this area!

We day tripped out of Clearwater (EP 62) to surrounding lakes and fishing was good on 7/21. We all landed pike, walleye and smallies. Hopefully another sign fishing was picking up in the area.

Good luck and enjoy as it goes by way too fast!!

One of my favorite areas! We spent a week base camping on Gaskin in mid-June (not our original plan but lots of rain and 40+ MPH winds led us to stay put and enjoy daytrips when we could)

Caribou and Horseshoe were nearly empty on our way through but Gaskin was our first day destination so we kept going... got the second to the last campsite on Gaskin shortly after lunchtime. West end tucked among the islands. We shared our campsite with a mama and baby moose. Plus there were two other moose families we saw swimming between the islands nearly daily - one mom with twins, one with a baby small enough that it was on her back sometimes. It was fantastic moose viewing all week.

We have also enjoyed the island site on the east end of the lake and the Mondale site in the past. One of our favorite lakes!

We did a Daytrip to Omega and found it much busier than we expected - only one campsite left open there. It's a beautiful lake.

We didn't have much luck fishing but only tried from shore a few times from our site. When it wasn't raining it was windy so it wasn't a great week for fishing. And we aren't really people who fish much so we give up very easily!

Portages were all very wet when we were through the area but that was the 3rd week of June. I suspect they are much drier now.

All 3 of the Meeds sites are great. Fishing on that lake is also great. Find where the muddy basin meets the rocky dropoff in 8-14 feet and hold on!

The narrows on the west end are consistently good for us.

Have fun!